


dust off your highest hopes

by Cones_McMurphy



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: First Meeting, Introspection, M/M, Patrick is a gay mess, also unpopular opinion but I think Patrick had an inkling that he liked guys before David came along, it's more likely than you think, kind of a song fic, me?? projecting on patrick brewer??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 03:33:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18357749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cones_McMurphy/pseuds/Cones_McMurphy
Summary: Three weeks ago, Patrick broke up with his fiance.Two weeks ago, Patrick left his hometown without looking back.Today, Patrick has a meeting with one David Rose.





	dust off your highest hopes

**Author's Note:**

> I started listening to Everything Has Changed and one thing led to another. My first Schitt's Creek fic! I just got into this show recently, so I hope I did Patrick justice. Let me know what you think!

_'Cause all I know is we said hello_   
_And your eyes look like coming home_   
_All I know is a simple name, and everything has changed_

 

Patrick sighs and leans back in the rickety desk chair that he’d been spending most of his time in for the past two weeks, ever since he threw all his possessions into the back of his car and took off at 8 PM on a Tuesday. He and Rachel broke up again, and suddenly his hometown felt like a trap, like a weight was bearing down on his chest and the longer his stayed there, the harder it was to breathe.

Or maybe it always felt that way.

He rubs his eyes and looks at his watch. He’s expecting an appointment in a few minutes—his only appointment of the day. He feels a bit like he’s getting paid to sit around. Which is fine, but God, it’s so boring. He gets up and makes his way to the other room, where there’s a cheap coffee maker, and pours some into a Styrofoam cup. It’s not good coffee, and truthfully he prefers tea, but this all Ray has, and he needs some kind of caffeine to get through the day.

He’s meeting David Rose soon, which should be interesting. He’s heard a lot about the Roses around town, especially David, and how he dresses strangely and speaks loudly and, most pressingly, how he purchased the general store. Patrick had never been that interested in the Roses, even before they lost everything, but he was also never unaware of them, and not just because he worked at a Rose Video. Rachel was always talking about Alexis Rose’s Instagram.

And then he’s thinking about Rachel again. He hates that they broke up again, because if he can’t make it work with Rachel, maybe he’s doomed to be alone. She was perfect, on paper. His childhood friend turned high school sweetheart. He knew everything about her, and his parents loved her, and he loved spending time with her, just talking. But they always seemed to fall apart. This time the fight was about place settings at the reception. Rachel wanted the table just for her college friends to be closer to the wedding party’s table. Patrick wanted their families to be at the closest table. Next thing he knew, she threw her ring at him, and told him to get out. 

He loves her, he really does. But he just isn’t _in_ love with her. At least, he doesn’t think he is, but it’s hard to know whether or not you’re in love with someone, when you’re not sure you’ve ever felt it before. Maybe this _is_ love. Maybe it’s not what they say it is. Maybe there’s no butterflies, maybe there’s no rush on warmth in your chest. He’s just nervous about the wedding, just overthinking things.

_No_ , a voice says from the back of his mind. Deep down, somewhere in the recesses of his heart, he’s knows. He's known since high school. He knows that if he was going to fall in love with a woman, it would’ve been Rachel. But as hard as he tried, he couldn’t love her. Not in the way she deserved. _Not in the way_ I _deserve._

He knew it in AP Chemistry, when he sat next to a boy with warm, dark eyes, a gentle smile, and a never ending supply of sarcastic comments. Patrick almost failed that class. He knew it when Rachel’s older brother, Charlie, taught him to play guitar the summer before he left for college. Patrick tried not to breathe when Charlie’s hands would guide Patrick’s over the neck of the guitar, and it felt like a bolt of lighting hit Patrick’s chest.

But those feelings never made sense, they weren’t what he was supposed to feel. He ignored them, buried them where they couldn't get out. Instead, he focuses on Rachel. And Rachel is perfect. Patrick just needs to get over his romantic ideals. 

Patrick is pulled from his thoughts by Ray’s voice calling his name, alerting him to the fact that David Rose has arrived. He tosses his coffee cup and heads back out to greet his appointment. David Rose looks different in person, he thinks, as soon as he sees him. He’s taller, his eyes seem deeper and darker, and there are tiny moles on his cheeks that must be airbrushed out in photographs. Patrick wonders why they would do that. He likes the moles.

David seems somewhat flustered, a little insecure, maybe about his business, dodging each of Patrick’s questions one by one. “It’s a general store, but it’s also a very specific store,” he says, and Patrick can’t keep the smirk off his face. David clearly wants to make a good impression, but he isn’t sure what to say, and he’s thrown by Patrick’s sports jokes. But something about him, the way he speaks, the way he gesticulates, the patently ridiculous way he goes about describing his business model, it makes Patrick a little dizzy, a little jittery, and even a little bit sweaty. Patrick thinks something he hasn’t let himself think since high school.

_He’s cute._

He ignores the thought, like he always does, or tries to, at least. But there’s something magnetic about David Rose. Patrick is almost glad David is struggling to answer his questions, because he isn’t sure he would be able pull his eyes away from David long enough to write anything. Patrick’s heart flutters for no good reason when David’s brown furrows and he bites out “Okay, you couldn’t use anything I just said?” and he’s desperately fighting to keep the stupid grin off his face as David says that he “doesn’t play cricket.” 

He can’t stop himself from giving David his card—his number—and secretly, foolishly maybe, hopes that David uses it for something other than business. He watches David walk—sashay, rather—out of Ray’s offices, and he’s still smiling like an idiot, and that’s when something inside clicks into place. _This_ , he realizes with a start, _this_ is how it’s supposed to feel.

His heart is still pounding slightly, and he’s never been more glad that Ray is too busy taking pictures to pay him much attention. He’s feeling way too much for one of Ray’s chats right now. He’s somehow both elated at the absolute rightness of his attraction to David, and terrified at the notion of exploring that further.

He’s supposed to go back and marry Rachel and have a few kids and take them to church every Sunday. He's supposed to live the same life his parents did, boring and normal and  _safe._ He’s supposed to work boring accounting jobs for the rest of his life, and be in love with Rachel. He's supposed to be in love with Rachel, his mind repeats. His chest tightens at the thought. He can’t do that, none of it. He was never going to be able to do it. 

But maybe…Maybe he picked the right town to start over in.


End file.
